Welcome back to my YouTube channel or podcast if you're listening.
My name is Camille and I teach English here on YouTube.
I also have written over a dozen books and I'm here to read from one of those books a B2 to C1, more advanced book.
I'm here to read a story And if you're not advanced, I do have a lot of reading videos that I've done with my beginner short story book.
I have done some with my intermediate short story book, with my short story travel book.
So you can go ahead and find those and they'll be a little bit easier.
So, when it comes to learning English, if you're Trying to learn with content that's just way too hard, you're going to be discouraged and you're going to want to give up.
So you need to make sure that you're learning with something that is appropriate for your level and interesting and holds your attention.
And so my idea is to read...
These stories are 300 to 400 words each, so I'll read the whole story through and then I'll go through and explain it, because there might be things that are confusing, and then we'll go ahead and do a couple examples comprehension questions each story there are 30 stories.
They each come with a 10 question comprehension quiz and a vocabulary list as well, so this is a great tool that you can find on amazon or my website.
If you have this book, you can follow along on page 117, 117 it is story number 22 and it is called the best breakfast we've ever had, and it's a true story.
So more than half of these stories in here are true than the other half I just made up.
So I love talking about food, which is why I wanted to read this story today.
Are you ready?
Grab your coffee or your tea.
I'm gonna take a drink of water and then I'm gonna get started.
Okay.
Okay.
We are a breakfast family.
Breakfast is one of our favorite meals of the day.
We sometimes even make breakfast food such as pancakes for dinner.
I don't particularly like going out to eat for breakfast.
I prefer to eat it in the comfort of my own home.
But first, I always enjoy a good cup of black specialty coffee.
One particular morning, we were in Antalya, Turkey.
Our friend Anil said he wanted us to experience a traditional Turkish breakfast.
He picked us up and took us to what was nicknamed Breakfast Town, because there were so many breakfast places in this little town.
We were in for a real treat because our table was up in a tree house.
When we got to the restaurant, we took off our shoes and sat on the cushions on the floor.
It was a very authentic place.
Traditional Turkish breakfast always includes chai, a delicious Turkish black tea.
Whenever I hear a spoon clinking, it takes me back to Turkey in a heartbeat.
People stirring their sugar cubes in a little glass teacup.
Turkish breakfast also consists of a variety of vegetables, such as tomatoes, olives, and cucumbers.
There's also rice.
Honey, jam, walnuts, and different cheeses.
There are all sorts of pastries and breads such as simit, pide, and borek.
There are egg dishes like menemen.
We let Anil order for us because we figured he knew best.
We tried so many different kinds of food.
And boy, was it delicious.
We ate to our heart's content.
After we ate, Anil ordered fresh squeezed orange juice for the kids and Turkish coffee for us.
I'm not a huge fan of Turkish coffee, but it was fun to turn our cups upside down after finishing the coffee and wait until a cool design showed up.
Then we were supposed to look for little pictures in the design to tell us our fortunes.
When we were finished, we asked the staff to pack up the leftovers, and then we walked to the local market as our food digested.
It will be hard to top this breakfast experience, because both the ambiance and the food were just incredible.
Experiencing it with a local was the icing on the cake.
It's definitely the best breakfast we have ever had.
I hope you guys like that short story.
There's more than a page of keywords, because there were many words in there that I think you might need help with.
So when I wrote this book, I was writing it like I was telling a friend.
So it's very naturally written and how a native would actually speak.
So let's go back through it and clear up any doubts about anything that you might have.
And then you have to tell me in the comments the best breakfast you've ever eaten or what people eat for breakfast in your country, because I love breakfast and I would love to know.
Okay, so when I said we're a breakfast family, that means we love breakfast.
Breakfast is our thing.
We are a breakfast family, okay?
We sometimes make breakfast food like pancakes for dinner, which is true.
I said I don't particularly like going out to eat for breakfast.
So that word particularly is...
It could also have been omitted, like, I don't like going out to eat for breakfast.
But when we say particularly, it's more specific.
And it means, like, in this case, like, really, or it's not like my choice.
I wouldn't choose it.
Okay?
In the comfort of my own home, people wonder.
I drink my coffee black, but it's also something called specialty coffee, which is like a whole science behind how the beans are grown, how they're roasted, what qualifies as specialty coffee?
And I'm not an expert, but I buy specialty coffee and it's very delicious.
And it's different from any coffee that you would buy in the supermarket.
And it's more expensive because usually you, There's an agreement with the farmers and it's fair trade and all of that as well.
So just Google it and you'll learn more about it.
But I drink it every day and it doesn't even need sugar or milk because it's just so delicious.
Okay.
So I must like that word particular.
One particular morning, one certain morning could be a synonym.
Okay.
We were in Antalya.
We spent six weeks there.
We studied Turkish.
We had a blast and suffered a lot with Turkish as well.
But it was a lot of fun.
So a traditional means traditional to that place.
So it's like a tradition, but it's traditional.
It's what you typically would have.
So he wanted to take us to something that they would typically eat as Turks.
So if something is nicknamed, it means it's called that or somebody's known by that name.
So actually, I have a couple of nicknames.
Some people call me Cam or Cammy.
And that would be a nickname because I respond, oh, someone said Cammy.
And so I turn around, you know, that's a nickname.
Do you have a nickname?
Okay.
I said we were in for a real treat.
If you're in for a treat, I mean, something is going to be special.
You're going to enjoy it because our table, it literally was up in a tree house.
So we had to climb stairs in a tree and there was this big room in the tree house.
So we took off our shoes.
That's explanatory.
We sat on cushions on the floor.
So when I say it was a very authentic place, authentic means true to itself.
If you're authentic, you're real.
You're not pretending to be anyone else.
And in this place, it's very like local, very real.
So chai, which is tea.
If you hear a spoon clinking, clinking means the sound, the sound that the spoon makes.
And then when I said it takes me back to Turkey in a heartbeat, that means that's an expression to say in a heartbeat, like in a minute.
I probably even have it on my word list.
How do I describe it?
In a heartbeat, it's an idiom and it means without delay or hesitation.
So it takes me back means it makes me think of that.
Okay.
Okay.
And then I talk about, oh, I'll mention this word because even advanced learners pronounce it wrong.
Vegetables.
A huge variety means different kinds.
Vegetables.
It's not veggie tables.
It's vegetables.
It's like the E isn't even there.
Vegetables.
Vegetables.
Tomatoes, I think you know, red, they can be small or big.
Olives, you might know as well.
Cucumbers, not to be mixed up with zucchini, they look similar.
Different sorts of pastries.
So pastries are things usually with flour and butter and they're baked.
Different breads, those are Turkish names.
Egg dishes would be things with eggs.
We let Anil order for us.
So that means he said what we should get, because we figured, we guessed, we thought that he would know best, which he did.
And there's an expression I say, and boy, was it delicious.
So it's an expression used to say something is very tasty, something that's very good.
Okay.
We have, oh, we ate to our heart's content.
It's also an idiom.
That means we ate until we were satisfied.
We ate as much as we wanted.
Okay.
So then we say, Anil ordered fresh squeezed orange juice.
So fresh squeezed, it means it's not from a bottle.
They make it from an orange.
You press it down and the juice comes out.
This is another one.
Not a huge fan.
So if you're not a fan of something, that means you don't really like it.
So don't judge me, but I don't really like Turkish coffee.
I like specialty coffee.
I've tried Turkish coffee.
It's so strong.
But telling our fortunes, like I talked about, turning the cup upside down, seeing the design and then looking for the little picture in the design to tell us our fortune, which I don't believe in that fortune telling, but it was just fun to do anyways.
The staff, so the people that work there, pack up the leftovers.
So food that is literally left over.
If you hear somebody say, I'm eating leftovers for lunch today.
It means food that was already cooked the day before, two days before, maybe even three days before.
Some leftover food keeps longer than others.
Okay, the local market, which I think is self-explanatory, as our food digested, as our food went from, you know, here just kept digesting as we were processing our food it will be hard to talk it will be hard to have a better experience okay ambiance is like right now this is my ambiance with the plants around my desk here so it's like your room the atmosphere of the place And then we have icing on the cake.
I'm sure that's on my list.
Yeah, it's an idiom.
It's something extra that makes a good thing even better.
So icing on the cake, something like a bonus that you're like this was a good experience and now it's even better.
And it's the best breakfast we ever had.
So, yeah, that is it.
That's the description of the story.
Let's go ahead and do some multiple choice.
Why does Camille prefer to have breakfast at home?
A, she doesn't like Turkish breakfast.
B, she enjoys the comfort of her own home.
C, she likes going to breakfast town.
D, she prefers breakfast.
Dinner over breakfast.
This one's pretty easy.
If you said B, you are correct.
Let's skip and go.
What takes Camille back to Turkey?
A, memories of friends.
B, The sound of a spoon clinking.
C. A Turkish breakfast song.
D. The smell of Turkish spices.
Do you remember?
Yes.
The sound of a clinking spoon.
B. Very good.
Last one.
What interesting activity do they do after finishing their Turkish coffee?
A, read a book.
B, look for fortune symbols in the cup's design.
C, take a nap.
D, write a letter.
Let me know that one in the comments.
I'll let you know if you're right.
If you're watching to this very end, you are amazing.
I can tell that you really want to learn English.
I appreciate you learning with me.
Thank you so much.
Again, you can find this book on Amazon or on my website.
If you haven't subscribed, be sure to hit that subscribe button and I'll see you real soon.
Thank you.
Bye.
